Pumpkin Muffins

I made these today from leftover Halloween pie pumpkins - since Michael went to a dance and we had no trick or treaters I never carved them - just had them on the patio for decoration ...

The little pumpkin only measured out to be one cup so I used a third of a cup  of sweet potato - I think either pumpkin or sweet potatoes or any combination would be fine.

From : Smitten Kitchen

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (have successfully swapped whole wheat flour for half and I used white whole wheat for half as well)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice (or 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon + 1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg + 1/4 teaspoon ginger + pinch of ground cloves and allspice)

1 1/3 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin or your own roasted pumpkin or sweet potato

1/3 cup vegetable or another neutral cooking oil

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put liners in 12 standard-sized muffin cups or grease them.

Stir or whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spice in small/medium bowl.

In a larger bowl, whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs and 1 1/4 cups sugar. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until just combined. Divide batter among muffin cups (each about 3/4 full).

Stir together last tablespoon of sugar and teaspoon of cinnamon. Sprinkle over each muffin.

Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Do ahead: Most muffins don’t keep well, but these are excellent on Day 2 (after being stored in an airtight container at room temperature) and not bad at all on Day 3. If longer, I’d keep them in the freezer until needed.

Sweet Potato Cornbread

These were a nice change from regular corn muffins and a new way to have kids eat their veggies without realizing it!

From: NYT

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 large sweet potato (about 1 pound), boiled until soft and then peeled, mashed and cooled

2 large eggs

1  1/4 cups milk

3/4 cup flour

1 1/4 cups cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees and lightly brush a 12-cup muffin tin with oil.
2.  Measure out 1/2 cup mashed sweet potato and transfer to a large bowl (discard any remaining potato in the pot or eat it). Add eggs, oil and milk to bowl and stir to combine.
3. Sift flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in separate large bowl. Add potato mixture and mix until just combined. (Do not overmix.) Pour batter into the prepared muffin cups and bake until the cornbread is puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.